Electronic Business: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (4-Volumes) P175 pdf

1674
Organisational Challenges of Implementing E-Business in the Public Services
As the main supplier of geographical in-
formation in Britain, NMA needed not only to
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advance online services, but also to change the
organisation’s internal culture to a customer-led
one. The prevailing view amongst over 90% of
senior executives interviewed was that e-business
was not only about electronic service delivery,
EXWDOVRWKDW³H´VKRXOGEHFRPHHPEHGGHGLQWKH
employees’ ways of working, in terms of approach
and attitude:
For the future NMA, there is no business but e-busi-
ness! We must become a more agile organisation
able to respond to our customers and partners
needs at “internet-speed.” … The IT technology
is the engine room of this change providing the
infrastructure, information systems and user sup-
port in transforming the organisation. However,
if we are to succeed in achieving our strategic
aims and becoming an e-business, it is essential
that we develop new ways of working. We must
improve our day-to-day business practices and
ensure that we get the best out of people, knowl-
edge, systems and facilities. (Chief Technology
2I¿FHU
The process of strategy formulation resulted
in a series of 21 investment projects that were
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interconnected nature (Table 2).

3XWWLQJWKHFXVWRPHU¿UVWLQLWLDWLYH involved
the adoption of e-business principles and technol-
ogy to ensure that each customer and partner is
managed at segment and individual levels. In the
words of the Initiative Manager:
Table 2. Projects under the e-strategy
Strategic Initiative Corresponding Projects
Putting the
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Customer Web sites
New Web site for the organisation
Customer Relationship Management
On-line Service
Digital Mapping
Strategic alliances
Establishment
Joined-up government
Alliance Extranet
The new mapping
agency
New ways of working and Project Platinum
Knowledge management
“Help yourself” (personalised online support for all employees)
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Developing the
market
Developing the Digital National Geographic Database
E-Brands
Location-based standards
E-Business channels

Market Development team
Pricing and licensing
Enabling
infrastructure
Enhancing the IT infrastructure
Off-site 24/7 availability
Enterprise Wide Software Suite (ESS)
1675
Organisational Challenges of Implementing E-Business in the Public Services
This initiative is critical because it will allow us to
create and deliver more innovative products much
faster to our customers. It will allow us to become
IDUPRUHHI¿FLHQWDQGFRVWHIIHFWLYHDFURVVDZLGH
range of activities. (Initiative Manager, 2001)
Customers were offered online access to a wide
range of mapping data, product demonstrations
to show the versatility of NMA data and tailor-
made Web gateways into the mapping agency,
each fostering improved, more focused customer
service. These gateways included facilities for
the online ordering and delivery of existing data
products at any time of the day or night or requests
for special mapping surveys. Each customer Web
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partner as well as access to generic information
and functionality available to wider groups.
By December 2002, the implementation of a
portal Web infrastructure environment increased
WKHHI¿FLHQF\RISHUVRQDOLVDWLRQDQGFXVWRPLVD-
tion provided to customers. In parallel, the NMA

Web site was redeveloped to become a gateway
for location-based services and information and
an enterprisewide software was implemented to
allow better customer relationship management.
Users of the new Web site were able to access loca-
tion-based information and services either directly
provided by NMA or indirectly by partners and
account holders (customers and partners) could
order digital and graphic mapping online.
The strategic alliance initiative involved
the establishment of a strategic alliance to help
drive the location-based information industry
forward in a cohesive manner and develop col-
laborative working between NMA and other parts
of the government with the help of e-business
technology. It involved joined-up geography by
using NMA data and referencing framework to
combine other location-based information from
other government bodies, for example, land
RZQHUVKLSORFDODXWKRULWLHVDGGUHVVHV¿HOG
parcels, and land use. It also marked a change in
the way NMA was making available its datasets
to users, by enabling partners to commercialise
WKLVGDWDRQEHKDOIRI10$LQDPRUHÀH[LEOH
way. The initiative manager talks of the overall
project as follows:
This initiative ensures that our NMA has the right
strategic relationships to help grow the geographic
information industry. Our organisation holds an
important position in the location based informa-

tion industry but must work with key players in
government and the private sector to realise the
vision. (Initiative Manager, 2001)
The new mapping agency initiative focused
on the people implications of the transformation
of NMA into an e-business. The Project Manager
states:
Whilst each of the other four strategic initiatives
GHOLYHUVLQLWVRZQZD\VLJQL¿FDQWFKDQJHWRWKH
business, this initiative is the one that touches
every single person in NMA. These projects are
all closely related to our people and the way we do
things. The focus is on simple and more effective
ways of working whilst focusing on the needs of
the customer. (Initiative Manager, 2001)
$SURJUDPPHFDOOHG³1HZ:D\VRI:RUN-
ing” addressed issues associated with the current
organisational structure, people, culture, com-
munication, and the way employees worked. The
clear target was to make these elements more
streamlined, adaptive, responsive, and customer-
driven. This included changing the existing
working practices, the implementation of new
performance management, and reward systems
focused on rewarding performance, changing the
way information and knowledge are captured,
coordinated, and made readily available within
the organisation (knowledge management), and
the implementation of a new software which
1676

Organisational Challenges of Implementing E-Business in the Public Services
allowed employees to manage their personnel
records online whilst also eliminating unneces-
sary paperwork, procedures, administration, and
costly support functions.
The organisation needed new competencies
and skills among existing managers, so that they
could drive forward the change programme. Cur-
rent management capabilities were characterised
by excellent technical abilities but poor people
management skills, especially in terms of manag-
ing change and risk. It was considered that, in order
to change the culture of the organisation, leaders
and management teams had to develop themselves
in readiness to embrace the new challenges and
opportunities facing NMA. Therefore, a new
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signed to help leaders understand how they could
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the competencies and skills required in leaders,
and set in place a programme which could develop
the behaviours supporting those competencies.
As part of this initiative, a set-piece event—NMA
Experience—was organised in December 2001.
The event was attended by all the employees and
was designed to explain to everyone the new vision
and values of the organisation as an attempt to
change the strong supportive civil service culture,
rich in custom and practice, develop a new culture
in line with the new direction of the organisation,

and encourage creative and innovative behaviours.
7KHFRUHQHZYDOXHVZHUHLGHQWL¿HGDVFXVWRPHU
focused, quick, working together, able to take
some risks, interested and excited by challenge,
personally accountable, commercially oriented,
and rewarded for results.
Developing the market initiative involved
developing new partnerships and using new chan-
nels to reach new customers. In the past, NMA
focused on an established core of customers in
a relatively mature market with sectors such as
central government, local government, and utili-
ties. These customers increasingly expected better
quality products and services in a market that
was becoming more competitive. The organisa-
tion needed thus not only to develop the existing
PDUNHWVEXWDOVRWR¿QGQHZPDUNHWVDQGZRUN
with partners to develop new applications that will
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adopting a proactive brand strategy, with a focus on
digital location-based information and the launch
of a new idea of geographic database—Master
Map. Innovative in concept, Master Map was not
a map in the traditional sense but a digital map
framework through which customers could access
the precise mapping data they needed. It offered a
KLJKOHYHORIÀH[LELOLW\DQGDFRPSOHWHUHIHUHQFH
system for Britain’s geographical data. As the
programme manager comments:
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supports customers evolving needs, develops existing
markets and opens new opportunities to ensure that
NMA is the content provider of choice” (Initiative
Manager, 2001).
Enabling infrastructure initiative involved
building a robust new infrastructure of systems to
underpin the e-business. A considerable amount
of infrastructure has been put in place to support
the whole of the e-strategy but particularly the
Master Map idea. The Internet, extranet, and
intranet applications were all upgraded and, in
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HI¿FLHQFLHVWKHROGV\VWHPVZHUHUHSODFHGZLWK
a single, integrated, enterprisewide software
application platform. This integrated software
package, called Enterprise-Wide Software Suite
(ESS), offered a single repository for all NMA’s
data and was implemented in association with
technology partners. One of the programme
managers expressed a commonly held view:
The Enabling Infrastructure provides the foun-
dation for the success of the e—Strategy. The
application and technical environment that we
EXLOGPXVWSURYLGHWKHHI¿FLHQFLHVWKDWDOORZXVWR
operate in an increasingly dynamic and delivery
focused organisation. Information Technology (IT)
provides the infrastructure, information systems
and user support in transforming the organisa-
tion. Without a robust IT infrastructure none of
1677

Organisational Challenges of Implementing E-Business in the Public Services
the e-business activities will be sustainable. To a
lesser or greater extent, we have all been frustrated
when a system let us down, whether it be our own
personal Internet Service Provider or a corporate
system. As our business becomes increasingly
dependent on IT systems, we have to avoid those
frustrating (and potentially damaging) failures,
as it is through the Enabling infrastructure initia-
tive that we aim to do this. (Programme Manager,
Enabling Infrastructure, 2002)
IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES
Organisational Restructuring
In order to successfully implement the e-business
strategy, the structure of the organisation was
reviewed and reorganised in November 2001.
As the CEO summed up the rationale for this
strategic initiative:
The need for accurate, reliable locational infor-
mation underpins so many of the new services
coming on stream and in Britain, no one has better
locational information than us. … But to stay at
the forefront of the geographical industry we must
keep pace with the market. That’s why we’re not
only investing in e-business initiatives but have
already put in place a whole new organisational
structure to make it a reality. (Chief Executive,
2001)
The realignment of internal group structures
and board responsibilities resulted in:

• The establishment of two brands busi
-
nesses, based around distinct customer
groups—Digital and Graphic Brands. The
two brands’ businesses were focused on
introducing new and innovative ways of
working with commercial and government
partners to meet different customer group
needs. Amongst such innovative approaches
were the establishment of a joint-venture
company with a commercial partner, with the
aim of providing consistent and maintained
points of interest data for the industry and
an estimated £35 million content deal with a
mobile phone operator that would allow mo-
bile users to access coloured maps featuring
real-time displays of various locations.
• The creation of a Business Change group
that was charged with championing the
transformation of the way the organisation
did business and in particular managing the
implementation of the e-business strategy.
Ownership of the Strategy
Ownership, accountability, and leadership were
essential elements of the successful implementa-
tion of the NMA e-business strategy. As change
was intended to be transformational and to af-
fect all the aspects of the organisation and the
levels within it, the entire programme has been
top-down driven, with the provision of a clear,

sustained direction that was well resourced and
coordinated. The instigators of the transformation
were the leaders of the organisation and the Strat-
egy and Operating Board—including Executive
and Nonexecutive Directors—had been heavily
involved in the e-business strategy and monitor
its implementation. In addition, each strategic
initiative had a director-level owner who was ac-
FRXQWDEOHWRWKHERDUGIRUGHOLYHULQJWKHEHQH¿WV
of that initiative. Full-time initiative managers
who focused on coordinating activity within their
initiative have been appointed.
At project level, business owners have been
LGHQWL¿HG ZKRZHUH FKDPSLRQV IRUWKHLU SURM-
ects within the implementation. Project owners
were responsible for ensuring that their projects
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Where IT projects were involved in the delivery,
the business owners worked in close conjunction
with IT Programme and Project Managers.
1678
Organisational Challenges of Implementing E-Business in the Public Services
Risk Management, Change Control,
and Financial Monitoring at
Appropriate Levels
Mechanisms have been implemented to ensure
the adequate management of risks, costs, and
change control during the implementation. The
Operating Board received updates on implemen-
tation progress, including costs, on a fortnightly

basis with a more detailed review undertaken
six-weekly through a business health check
exercise. In addition, a weekly implementation
steering group (chaired by the Director of Busi-
ness Change and including the Initiative Owner
Directors) monitored strategic level risks, costs,
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to project contracts and business cases were ap-
proved by initiative owners and reported to the
steering group. Furthermore, programme and
project boards have been established within each
initiative and these dealt with the day-to-day detail
of implementation monitoring, cost control, and
minor change control.
Internal Communication
In order to engage all employees in the business
transformation associated with the implementa-
tion of the e-business strategy, considerable effort
has been put into a coordinated programme of
internal communication, which included:
 )DFHWRIDFHEULH¿QJVZLWKDOOVWDIILQ
December 2000 and June 2001, including
interactive and multimedia demonstrations
of live and prototype systems
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ZLWK DOO ¿HOG VWDII IURP 'HFHPEHU 
onwards
 )RUWQLJKWO\XSGDWH EULH¿QJV DW2SHUDWLQJ
Board—cascade briefed by managers to all
staff and reported on Intranet

• A dynamic intranet site—regularly updated
with project aims and progress
• Internal branding of the implementation
activity to help focus all staff on the busi-
ness transformation
Further Restructuring
In May 2002, a new Human Resources Direc-
tor, recruited from the commercial sector, was
appointed to drive forward the people side of the
change programme. At her initiative, in August
2002, a team of senior managers undertook an
HLJKWZHHN UHYLHZ H[HUFLVH HQWLWOHG ³(PHUDOG
City”) which involved looking forward to the
future and identifying the challenges and oppor-
tunities that the organisation was likely to face
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could be driven forward.
Following this review, in September 2002, the
board announced a further restructuring of the
organisation to help develop stronger teams and
networks around the core processes (Figure 1)
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levels in different functional and subfunctional
areas and 300 people were, consequently, re-
leased. A consequence of this restructuring was
that a number of old divisions and functions were
either eliminated or merged, in order to obtain
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HI¿FLHQF\RIWKHEXVLQHVV
The proposed new structure involved merging
the Digital and Graphic Brands businesses into a
single Sales and Market Development Group and
creating a separate Programmes and Products
Group, each headed by a Director. The Business
Change Group activities were absorbed within
other parts of the organisation. To give greater
integration to corporate communications, the
Corporate Communications Department has
been integrated into the Human Resources and
Corporate Services Group led by the HR Direc-
tor. Minimal changes were introduced in the
1679
Organisational Challenges of Implementing E-Business in the Public Services
other groups.
As a result of these changes, the new structure
due to be implemented starting with November
2002 incorporates seven major groups (Figure 2):
strategy; human resources and corporate services;
¿QDQFHLQIRUPDWLRQV\VWHPV:HEUHVHDUFKDQG
innovation; data collection and management;
programmes and products; and sales and market
development.
The previous structure created in November
2001 in relation to the e-strategy implementation
served its purpose of focusing the organisation
of work on developing new products and markets
and gave an impetus to particular projects. It
allowed NMA to strengthen its digital offering

and also gave the graphic side of the business the
FRQ¿GHQFHDQGVSDFHWR GHYHORS DQGEHWZHHQ
them both business groups could identify notable
successes.
The new structure implemented in September
RIIHUHGDPXFKKLJKHUOHYHORIIXQFWLRQDOÀH[-
ibility. It gave clarity to the end-to-end processes
of the business—from collecting data, through the
production processes, and on the supply of data
Figure 1. Core business processes in NMA
Figure 2. The new organisational structure


Data Collection
and Management


The National
Geospatial
Database

Production and
technical product
marketing

Sales and
customer
marketing

Strategy and International & Government Relations
Finance and Procurement
Human Resources and Corporate Services
Information Systems, Web, Research and Innovation

Supported by

CEO and management
team


Strategy
Human
Resources
and
Corporate
Services


Finance
Inf. Systems,
Web,
Research
and
Innovation

Data
Collection and
Management

Programmes
and
Products

Sales
and
Market
Development
1680
Organisational Challenges of Implementing E-Business in the Public Services
to partners and customers, whilst allowing the
development of stronger cross-functional teams
and networks around core processes. The number
of hierarchical levels between top management
and business groups teams has been substantially
reduced and the seven groups have been organised
along business processes, giving a lot of opera-
tional freedom to Group Managers. This freedom
was balanced by a stronger planning process in
the organisation, with group teams working with
the strategy people on the overall planning.
The different cross-functional teams created
meant increased horizontal communication be-
tween groups as well as vertical between the top
management team and group teams, facilitated by
the use of modern information technology. The
new organisation of work was trying to combine
the strengths of a functionally arranged organi-
sational structure, offering a better coordination

RIWKHFRUHEXVLQHVVSURFHVVZLWKWKHÀH[LELOLWLHV
in terms of vertical communication offered by a
process-based structure.
The transition from the old structure to the new
one was a lengthy process. The old structure was
effectively being moved to the new structure on a
level by level basis. As employees in the positions
made redundant under the voluntary redundancy
scheme were leaving the organisation, the remain-
ing positions were being rearranged in the new
VWUXFWXUHDQGVWDIIZHUHQRWL¿HGDERXWWKHQHZ
p o s i t i o n s . Tr a n s i t i o n s t r uc t u re s w e r e b e i n g u s e d t o
prop up the old structure and keep the day-to-day
operations going. The implementation of the new
Figure 3. Event chart, e-strategy implementation and follow-up (2000-2004)

New CEO
(August 2000)
New ways
of working
Project
Platinum
Emerald
City

NMA
Experience
STRATEGY

21 Projects

Change
Programme
E-Strategy
(September 2000)
(January 2001)
- Vision
- Values
- Int. Comms

(December 2001)

New HR
Director
(May 2002)
Enterprise
Wide
Software
Suite (ESS)
(August 2002)
(December 2002)

Organisational
Change
- Reorganisation
- New structure
(April 2003)
New strategy
2005-2008

Focus

4 Years
(Presented: September 2004)



People
Data
Delivery
Customers

1681
Organisational Challenges of Implementing E-Business in the Public Services
VWUXFWXUHZDV¿QDOLVHGLQ$XJXVW
In parallel with these structural changes,
in order to track and predict customer, market,
DQG EUDQG SUR¿WDELOLW\ D &RUSRUDWH %DODQFHG
Scorecard with six performance dimensions
¿QDQFLDOSHUIRUPDQFHTXDOLW\RIVHUYLFHÀH[-
ibility; competitiveness; resource utilisation;
and innovation) has been introduced as a way of
consolidating corporate performance measures
and focus them upon core strategy components.
The aim of introducing the balanced scorecard,
in addition to other measurement tools such as
customer satisfaction surveys, employee opin-
ions, and monthly business health checks, was to
provide the management board with the means
to monitor the progress of the business on an on-
going basis. In addition, the strategy team could
liaise better with individual business planners

(Business Groups’ Directors) for coordinating
business processes across teams and establish
integrated performance measures.
By December 2004, all the 21 projects com-
prising the e-strategy were fully completed and
their success benchmarked against their key de-
liverables. A new business strategy 2005-2008,
focused on how NMA will be meeting customer
needs in the next four years, was created, building
on some of the success aspects of the previous
e-strategy: the creation of better data collection,
maintenance and management systems as well as
the development of new products and geographic
solutions through partnerships with other public
and private organisations. An event chart of the
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An overall assessment of the change efforts
driven by the e-business implementation between
2000 and 2004 suggests the e-strategy implemen-
tation was a success. The progress made towards
transforming the way the organisation worked was
acknowledged by customers, partners, suppliers,
and e-business experts, and employees noticed a
marked improvement in their working environ-
ment. In addition to this feedback, the e-strategy
ZDVDZDUGHG¿YHVWDUVE\WKH*RYHUQPHQW2I¿FH
of the E-Envoy in 2004 and this rating indicated
that the NMA’s strategy was seen as a success-
ful plan of action that has largely been met with
key deliverables offering customers and staff

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was forecasted by April 2005 thanks to careful
management of costs, growth in revenue, and
rigorous prioritisation of investments.
LESSONS LEARNED
The digital revolution offered huge opportunities
for the organisation to improve the services that it
provided to its customers, enhance its interaction
with partners, and revolutionised the way people
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VHUYLFHVDUHSURYLGHGWRFDSWXUHWKHIXOOEHQH¿WVRI
technology and, second, by tailoring the services
to the needs of individual citizens, customers, and
businesses. Electronic service delivery enabled
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ible, as well as creating the opportunity to harvest
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The steps taken to meet the organisational
challenges of implementing the e-business strat-
egy across the organisation therefore provide a
list of best practices for this particular situation
(see Table 3). Several success factors relevant to
e-business implementation emerged from this
account:
First, one major lesson from this experience
was that a successful organisational transforma-
tion involving e-business implementation requires
clear leadership from the top management team.
The NMA e-strategy has been created as the
strategic blueprint to develop the business and

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The strategy was transforming the business at
all levels, culturally, technically, and commer-
cially. Fundamental to all of this activity was the
requirement to create the environment in which
NMA could successfully deliver its strategy for
the business. This has required the Senior Man-
1682
Organisational Challenges of Implementing E-Business in the Public Services
Table 3. Best practices for the implementation of the e-business strategy
No. Organisational challenges Steps taken to meet organisational
challenges
Data from NMA
1 Being ‘halfway’ towards the private
sector as a public sector executive
agency moving towards a competitive
commercial model
- Design a strategy that would capitalise
on the unique position of the NMA on
the market, as the biggest geographical
information provider in UK with
market-ready cutting-edge technology
and high levels of internal capability
- Establish strategic alliances to help
drive the location-based information
industry forward in a cohesive manner
- Develop collaborative working
between NMA and other parts of the
government
“ What we needed was a strategy that recognised

our unique position. Something that enabled the
organisation to have learning and, at the end of
the experience, the learning would be resident in
the organisation.” (Corporate Strategist, 2001)
“Who are our competitors? There is no single
competitor for us. Because we are responsible
for the national infrastructure of geographical
information, there is no single other organisation
who could and would want to replicate that,
because it is hugely expensive to replicate that”.
(Senior manager, 2002)
2 Need to develop and communicate a
clear e-business vision and the concept
behind the change to the organisation
as a whole and to all stakeholders,
especially end-users (customers and
partners)
Communicate the why, where and how
of the change to the people involved in
the 21 projects and to all employees by
using mobilising events such as ‘NMA
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the projects, lets the team know where
they stand and where they are headed,
and encourage commitment to the cause
through the use of various internal
communication mechanisms
“ The top team and the board decided ‘ Right, this
is our new strategy, this is were we are going, and
this is our vision. We need to communicate that to

everybody” (Project Platinum Manager, 2002)
“ The essentials are around being absolutely clear
about what it is you are trying to achieve and why
– and I don’t just mean the reorganisation. I mean:
where do you want to be as a business?”(Senior
manager, 2003)
“What this event [NMA Experience] really did
was to move the senior management up in the
eyes of the workforce. It helped them understand
that there was skill and ability in our senior team,
and they were all committing to doing things in a
different way and start leading the business more
effectively.” (Project Manager, 2002)
1683
Organisational Challenges of Implementing E-Business in the Public Services
Table 3. continued
No. Organisational challenges Steps taken to meet organisational
challenges
Data from NMA
3 Create a feeling of ownership for the e-
strategy at project level and a commitment
at all levels of the organisation
- Get the project leaders and initiative
owners involved early in the e-strategy
projects.
- Communication events important
in creating belief and feeling of
ownership.
“ We put this plan together, represented by a
railway journey. It’s a single-track railway, a one-

way journey, because we wouldn’t be going back.
It didn’t have a starting-point because change has
been going on forever, and we couldn’t say if or
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4 Need new effective communication
channels between the project teams and
between the Sales and Marketing teams
and customers
- The project management teams were
put in place to develop channels for and
manage the communication between
the different parties. Weekly, fortnightly
and quarterly status meetings help to
keep all parties updated on each other’s
progress and on the progress of the e-
strategy implementation as a whole
“ After about three months we had improved
the relationship between the project teams and
the steering group. The steering group felt more
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teams to deliver” (Director of Business Change,
2002)
“Communication forms the grounding for
all the organisational work I have done. The
communication, consultation and involvement
strategy is what will make it happen” (Programme
Manager, 2003)
5 Manage different customer segments:
retain traditional loyal customers (public
sector & utilities) whilst developing

emerging markets (telecomm, retail and
insurance) and commercial partnerships
- From products to relationships:
shift from a customer relationship
management (CRM) focused on products
or processes to a CRM philosophy
focused on customer segments and the
solutions they require
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groups
- Focus NMA’s activity entirely on
improving core business processes
(data collection and management)
and involve commercial partners in
translating this digital data into business
solutions that meet end users’ needs
through partnership agreements
“ We need partners who would come and help
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mobile operators and by enlarge our strategy is
and will be in the future to partner with some of
these companies rather than compete with them.
So partnership development is an important part
of our strategy, previously we worked with small
partners, now we are trying to work with bigger
ones, to get them develop solutions for us”. (Senior
manager, 2002)
“ We place the customer rather than the product
or process at the centre of the organisation to

develop a stronger link between our different
groups of customers and our data collection and
management side of the business.” (Business
Improvement Manager, 2002)